IND vs PAK: No Matter How Much You Play In The IPL, It Does Not...: Ex-Pakistan Skipper Warns India Ahead Of Asia Cup Clash

Team India will open their campaign in the Asia Cup with a mouthwatering clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on Saturday (September 2). The much-awaited high-voltage clash will take place in Pallekele.

India and Pakistan are in Group A along with Nepal while reigning champions and co-hosts Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan are in Group B. Both India and Pakistan are widely considered as the hot favourites for the tournament and both the teams will be looking to prove their title-winning credentials by winning the match between them.

India have been strengthened by the return of several key players. While KL Rahul will be unavailable for the match, the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Jasprit Bumrah, and Prasidh Krishna will be available. The trio’s availability will be a huge boost for the Indian team.

But while India have a strong and formidable unit for the Asia Cup, former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt believes that his country will have the edge over the Men in Blue. The former cricketer began by pointing out the India pacer’s injury woes in recent times. He also cited a lack of experience in the Indian team and said that the team is over-reliant on their senior batsmen Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

“If we look at India’s fast bowling, fitness is a concern. Players have been unfit for a long time, we don’t know if they are fragile, will they go full throttle. Apart from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, they have youngsters, who have played plenty of cricket but they don’t have that much of experience.

“India have won matches only when Rohit Sharma has played well or Virat Kohli has done something spectacular. When the onus is on others they have mostly struggled,” Salman Butt said in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

“Pakistan have Babar, Rizwan, Fakhar, Shadab, Shaheen, Haris Rauf. And in my opinion Pakistan have a much larger core group. India too have match-winners like Jadeja, Shami, Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. But their batting is brittle, if Pakistan pick the two big wickets then the others will have a lot to prove. They have not helped India win matches against Pakistan or in their own.

“We have bowlers who can bowl at 90mph, only one or two can touch 90mph, others don’t have that much pace. This is an added advantage. We have both type of spinners, fast bowling all-rounder, and he too touches 140kph,” he added.

Salman Butt takes a dig at IPL ahead of India-Paksitan clash:

Speaking further, Salman Butt took a sly dig at the IPL, saying that no matter how much experience the Indian players get from playing in the T20 competition, it would not help them much to deal with the pressure during an India-Pakistan game.

“There are plenty of expectations from India, hence the pressure is more. And since India have not played against Pakistan for a long time for whatever reasons, their players no matter how much IPL they’ve played, they don’t have the experience of playing in such a high-voltage clash.

“Chahe subah, dopahar, sham IPL khel le (no matter how much you play in the IPL) it does not bring the same pressure, which is during India-Pakistan series,” he said.

Meanwhile, the sixteenth edition of the Asia Cup is scheduled to start on Wednesday (August 30). Pakistan will lock horns against Nepal in the tournament opener in Multan.